Articles

Up, over, and … a little off

The 92-foot schooner HALIE MATTHEW was righted on Sept. 15 on the grounds of the Eastport Boat School. Although she came down a little askew, she was ultimately brought upright. The all-day-into-dusk project was accomplished with a crane owned by Fundy Contractors of St. George, New Brunswick, assisted by two smaller Eastport rigs, and a

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Working Waterfronts

“A private nuisance action may not be maintained against a person engaged in a commercial fishing activity or commercial fishing operation,” states Maine’s 2001 “right to fish” law, “so long as the activity or operation is undertaken in compliance with applicable licensing and permitting requirements …” The fishing industry, it would seem, is protected against

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The Sanford Casino

The proposal to build a casino-hotel complex in Sanford, an inland community, wouldn’t be of much interest on the coast if it weren’t so large. But at the scale its developers envision, the effects of a casino will inevitably spread far and wide, affecting communities hundreds of miles away. Coastal towns already hard-pressed by rising

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Vinalhaven’s new school opens

A series of photos highlights Vinalhaven’s newly constructed school, pictured at right.Although the grounds are still under construction and SAD 8 has not yet officially taken possession, the building is mostly finshed. Other photos show students enjoying the new comfortable reading chairs in the library, the cafeteria, and the bridge connecting the high school to

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Education Programs

Salted through this issue of Working Waterfront you’ll find stories about a variety of educational programs. It being September and time for schools to start up after the summer break, it seemed appropriate to look at a few examples of instruction – formal and informal, in classrooms or otherwise – that one finds along the

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Barberry threatens Monhegan’s forest

After more than a century of clearing for agriculture, browsing by deer and die-offs related to disease, Monhegan Island’s forest appears to be regenerating with a healthy mix of hardwood and softwoods. At the same time, a University of Maine forest ecology professor told a recent island meeting, an invasive non-native plant known as Japanese

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Let the Fund Raising Begin!

An auction held Aug. 10 on Diane and Don Pendleton’s property to benefit the Beacon Project was a huge success, raising $22,000 from sales of furniture, rugs, accessories, paintings, antiques, jewelry and other small objects. Co-chairs Diane Head, Libby King and Ginny Hall praised community members who donated pieces. Under the bidding tent the atmosphere

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Vinalhaven School

After a seemingly endless number of years in its inadequate “temporary” building, the Vinalhaven school is finally moving into a well-designed, appropriate new facility. This day has been a long time coming, and is a tribute to the tenacity of the Vinalhaven community, its school administration and the many donors who made it possible for

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Another Bad Idea

What’s remarkable about the federal government’s continual rumbling about making the Post Office “run like a business” is that this ridiculous idea lives on and on. The postal system was set up in the days of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin not to make money, but to bind the country together. It’s part of a

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Working waterfronts

A working waterfront, lest anyone forget it, is where many things meet: commerce, natural resources, transportation, public access, various types of manufacturing, recreation. The list of activities associated with working waterfronts is very long, and what’s on that list will always depend on one’s point of view. As writer Rob Snyder suggests in the first

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